José Manuel Albares visited Ceuta earlier as he insisted that Madrid had it all under control

Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares visited Ceuta earlier today, as he insisted that Madrid had it all under control despite “the most unique and complex” border arrangements there.

He said Spain was in direct dialogue with the Moroccan authorities on how to prevent another border crisis.

Met Office says this warning will likely cause ‘adverse’ health effects with travel and power generation also possibly affected

The Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has written a useful explainer about the UK public services that are struggling in the extreme weather. You can read it in full here:

There’s only one solution in the end to the drought now declared across most of England and that’s rain, says Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading.

An important consequence of drought is that very dry soils can become less able to absorb rainfall when it does arrive. This can increase surface runoff and can even contribute to localised flash flooding, particularly if rain falls intensely over a short period.

The current situation highlights the need to improve long-term resilience to both drought and flood risk as climate variability increases, and shows one more damaging impact of the burning of fossil fuels.